Sophisticated piece of equipment, astounding results
I have owned and used a Minolta X-700 since 1982. I got it as a beginning photography student at age 19; I'm not 49.At the time this was a highly sophisticated, state of the art camera, and in its hey dey it took spectacular pictures especially using a tri-pod and Kodachrome or some other slow speed film. However, there are several drawbacks to it and I basically learned to use this camera by trial and error and had many, many pictures turn out either underexposed or overexposed.Since the camera came with a feature which is supposed to prevent this, I could never figure out why my pictures didn't turn out perfect. Here are some of the drawbacks:
1. The on/off button is located on the aperture, it has three settings, the green on, on with the low light indicator (also green; beeps and flashes) and off which is black. When the sun is bright it is unreadable and I have often lost a picture by inadvertently switching it to the "off" or forgeting to turn it on. Well, I have lost the moment,on bright sunny days, especially while filming animals because I have inadvertently switched my camera off.When set in the "P" mode on the aperture, the camera automatically selects aperture, focus and shutter speed. You must also lock the lense, however as well as select the green "P" mode. I found the pictures taken with this setting are not very good, unless one has a dark filter screwed onto the lense and the picture is taken with a slow speed film like Kodachrome. With "A" mode you can change the aperture (amount of light entering the camera) while the camera accordingly sets the speed. There is a square button you push on the left side of the lense which usually darkens the view through the viewfinder if the light warning indicator beeps. However, it is highly subject to shadow and if you are taken a sunny picture while standing in a shadow it isn't reliable. I have had many countless pictures come out too dark by following the camera's low light indicator guide, and accordingly changing the aperture to the indicated speed setting. (It will flash on the correct speed setting through the viewfinder if set too high. It also has a circle with a line through it indicating shadows and it's for correct angle. If the bottom half of the circle appears dark, you are standing in a shadow which will affect the picture. Both parts of the circle should match, so you are supposed to point your camera higher or at a different angle. This camera also has a plus/negative setting the left side of the camera, i.e. 1+, 2+ 3+, or 1-, 2-, 3- etc.This feature was designed to control tone and speed, and was most useful with pan-x and the b/w films, though, I didn't use it much. With the subsequent development of sophisticated Another problem I experienced was the film guide or loading film when I installed it in my camera. You had to bend back the beginning of the roll and insert it into the winder. Many times the film failed to engage in the winder and I wound up with unused rolls of film, though the camera indicated the subsequent advance of film as if the film were winding. Also the rewind feature is manual, not automatic. You wind it back with a little knob that flips up.Since the rewinding is manual,you can either rewind after the camera indicates 24 or 36 exposures have been taken or until the advance switch (a bulky knob that sticks out) doesn't progress.However, don't be deterred by these little things as the camera is indeed worth its weight in gold! Still use it!Read full review
